
die 




1700—1870. 



170th anniversary f 




f 



,,._- ■' ■-■J- v?.^ • x-.v/'- - * 

GLORIA DEI (OLD SWEDES') CHURCH. | 




PHILADELPHIA. 

M'FAKLAXl). PKIXTKU, oil WALXUT STUKKT. 

1S70. 




— ' / t-' i^' 



1700—1870. 



170th anniversary 




GLORIA DBiVlD SWEDES) CHURCH. 



PHILADELPHIA. 

M'FAKLAXD, TRIKTEK, 311 WAL*NUT STREET. 

1870. 



h 



I ^^ 



The following sermons are published by special and earnest 
request. They were written simply for the pulpit, and are now 
printed as a slight memorial of a day long to be remembered 
'«bjr the friends and congregation of "Old Swedes'." 



MORNING SERMON, 

JUNE 19, 1870. 

By rev. SNYDER B. SIMES, 

Rector of Gloria Dei Church. 



" Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the house of Thy 
servant^ that it may continue forever before Thee : for Thou, O 
Lord God, hast spoken it ; and with Thy blessing let the house of 
Thy servant be blessed forever.''^ II Samuel, vii, xxix. 

On the first Sunday after Trinity in the year 1700, 
this Church was solemnly dedicated to the worship 
of Almighty God, and a sermon preached from these 
words of Scripture, by the Rev. Mr. Biork in the 
Swedish language. And as, we are told, there were 
present a great many English persons, and others 
from Philadelphia, a summary of the discourse was 
afterwards given by the clergyman in the English 
language. On this, the First Sunday after Trinity, 
in the year of our Lord 1870, we, beloved, are gath- 
ered in this same house of God to consider the day& 
that are past, and to bow in thankful adoration before 
the Father of all mercies. 170 years have rolled by 
since that bright Sunday morning; over five gener- 
ations have appeared on the stage of life, acted their 
respective parts, and disappeared forever from the 
scenes of earth ; one minister after another has here 
proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation, and congre- 



ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 



1 



gation after congregation have met within these 
walls; and though now their very names are scarcely 
legible on the tomb-stones in ourj^ardjyet still their 
work remains. Time, the great destroyer, has dealt 
gently with this sanctuary. There is not, I believe, 
any building now standing, within the borders of 
our State, which stood when this was erected, and 
yet to-day we are permitted in peace and security 
to worship here the Lord our God, and to witness 
the fulfillment of the dedication payer ''that the 
house of the Lord might be blessed forever." 

170 years ! how hard it is for us to form any cod-- 
ception of such a period of time. Look forward 170 
years from now, and not only we, but our children, 
and our children's children, will be numbered with 
the dead, and should the wise purposes of God be 
still unaccomplished in the world, the year of grace 
2040 will have been reached. Look backward for a 
moment, and the rise and progress or the decline 
and fall of the nations of the world will convey to 
the mind some idea of what has transpired during 
this long period. I say long period, not forgetting 
that in the early history of the world, human life 
was reckoned by hundreds rather than by scores 
of years, and that there are nations whose records 
go back for centuries, but where men live as they 
do here, where cities are built almost in a day, 
where so much is accomplished in so short a time, 
and the progressive spirit of the age can be bounded 
by no limits, 170 years is virtually a longer period 
than 1700 before the flood, or a thousand years of 
the dark ages. To form some idea of the 170 years 



OLD swedes' church. 5 

that are forever past, just glance with me at the 
condition of the old world, before we speak more 
particularly of our own country, for it is only as we 
grasp this thought that we can at all properly cele- 
brate this anniversary of our Church, or realize the 
fulfillment of. the words of the text. 

170 years ago, and the mighty empire of Eussia 
was just rising into prominence by the wisdom of 
Peter the Great, and the great city of St. Petersburg 
was not even founded, while Charles the Twelfth of 
Sweden, building on the foundation which had been 
laid by the prudence and skill of Gustavus Adolphus, 
succeeded in raising his country to a position she 
has never since occupied. 170 years ago, and the 
entrance of 20,000 Protestant refugees into Prussia 
exerted an influence for good on that country, which 
has been felt to the present moment, and though it 
was not till forty years afterwards that Frederick 
the Great began his wonderful career, yet the leaven 
that leaventh the whole lump came with this perse- 
cuted people of God. 170 years ago, and the war of 
the Spanish Succession was agitating nearly the whole 
of Europe against France and Spain, while the Eevo- 
lution in England had a few years before driven the 
weak and bigoted James the Second to France, and 
William the Prince of Orange, landing with his army, 
had ascended the vacant throne. 170 years ago, and 
the reign of the first George had not even "begun, 
while this great republic of America was (with the 
exception of a few scattered settlements along the 
coast) but a vast wilderness where only here and 
there the face of the white man was to be seen. 



6 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

As is well known to you all, North America was 
discovered a short time before the year 1500, but 
it was not till many years afterwards that any per- 
manent settlement was made. Time will not permit 
me to go into the reasons for this delay, there is so 
much to be said that I can only glance here and there, 
and touch on points which would require not only 
sermons but volumes to unfold. 

First came the settlement of Virginia in 1607, then 
that of the Dutch in 1614, on the Hudson river, then 
that of the Puritans at Plymouth in 1620, and then 
the settlement on the shores of the Delaware. The 
eastern or Jersey shore was undoubtedly first settled 
by the Dutch, but the western or Pennsylvania shore, 
by the Swedes. From Dr. Clay's valuable little book, 
'' The Swedish Annals," (from which I have gather- 
ed most of my information, though I have confirmed 
his statements by a personal examination of many 
of the documents from which he derived his facts,) 
we learn that as early as July 2d, 1626, a proclama- 
tion was issued by the King of Sweden to form a 
trading colony on the shores of the Delaware (or 
South river as it was termed in distinction from the 
North or Hudson river) for the following reasons : 

1st. (And permit me to call particular attention 
to this point, as I believe it is often overlooked) 
that the Christian religion would by that means be 
planted among the heathen. 

2d. That his Majesty's dominions would be en- 
larged. 

3d. That it would produce to the nation many 
positive advantages, and that the Swedes possessed 
all the means for carrying it on. 



OLD SWEDES CHURCH. i 

It would appear that the whole nation received 
this proposal of the King with the greatest satisfac- 
tion. Ships and all necessaries were provided, and 
the various officers were all appointed, but the 
breaking out of the German war, and the death of 
the King soon after put an end to the whole project. 
It was not till the year 1636 or 1637 under the 
patronage of Qaeen Christina (though Dr. Collin 
places it as early as 1634,) that two ships arrived 
and began the first permanent Swedish settlement. 
Holmes in his American Annals, Smith in his history 
of New Jersey, and even Watson in his Annals of 
Philadelphia, place it as early as 1631, but as it is 
ajimitted by all, that the Swedes came in the reign 
of Queen Christina, and as she was not queen until 
after the death of her father in 1632, this must be a 
mistake. However, as Fort Christina was begun 
early in 1638, they must have landed not later than 
1637 ; many years before the settlement of Penn took 
place. They immediately purchased from the Indians 
the whole western shore of the Delaware from Cape 
Henlopen to the Trenton Falls, and had the bounda- 
ries determined by fixed stakes and marks, and in the 
instructions to Governor Printz, dated August 15th, 
1642, he is to positively deny the pretended right of 
the Dutch to any part of the land on the west side of 
the river, and if friendly negotiations prove fruitless to 
repel force by force. The new settlers were, however, 
unable to contend with the force that came from New 
Amsterdam under Governor Stuyvesant, and in 1655 
so small a fleet as six vessels and 700 men compelled 
an entire surrender to the Dutch conqueror. The 



8 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

buildings were all destroyed, and the chief people 
carried off to New York, and afterwards to Holland , 
while the common people were allowed to remair 
under the rule of the Dutch Governor. Their tri-j 
umph however was of short duration, for in 1664 
Charles the Second granted a patent to his brothei 
James, Duke of York and Albany, to all the Dutcl 
possessions, and sending a powerful army to enforce 
his claims, the whole country fell under British rule 
and so remained, (except when the Dutch regain e 
possession for a few years,) till by the appeal t i 
arms in 1776 these colonies were declared free an I 
independent States. The first English families se 
tied in Jersey, and in 1677 the ship Kent, with 2{ 
passengers, mostly Friends, came to these far dista 
shores. William Penn, as is well known, did n 
himself set sail from England until August 1682, 
the famous ship Welcome, and landed at New Cas- 
on the 27th of October of the same year, almost 50 
years after the first Swedish settlement. 

Bearing this fact in mind, let us now see in what 
relation they stood to the first inhabitants of the land. 
We have before said that they purchased the land 
from the Indians, and though the purchase money 
was but trifling, yet so likewise were the gifts of 
Penn. The acknowledment of the rights of the red 
man, the denial that might makes right, and the 
desire to maintain peaceful relations with the men 
of the forest, are however to be remembered, and 
the actuating motives give to the Swedes and Friends 
a just claim upon the respect of all. But they were 
not satisfied in merely purchasing the land. They 



01 



OLD swedes' church. 9 

were not simj^ly Swedes, they were Christians, and 
very early they made efforts to enlighten the dark- 
ness of the heathen mind. Unlike the noble band of 
Puritans, they did not come for freedom to worship 
God, this they enjoyed in their own land. They 
did not come simply for the love of adventure, or 
for purposes of traffic, but along with these they 
:'0mbined the far higher work of missionaries of the 
;! ^ross. In a little book printed in 1702, under the 
patronage of Charles the Twelfth, by Thomas Com- 
j >aniu8-Holm, a grand-son of one of the first mission- 
ries, (entitled ''A Description of the Province of 
T lew Sweden, now called by the English Pennsyl- 
ania in America," and which has been translated 
r the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,) is the 
n llowing account of the first attempt to convey the 
lowledtje of the truth to the red man. ''The, 

TOO ^ 

idians," says he, '' were frequent visitors at my 
grand-father's house. When for the first time he 
performed service in the Swedish congregation, they 
came to hear him, and greatly wondered that he had 
so much to say, and that he stood alone talking so 
long, while all the rest were listening in silence. 
This excited in them strange suspicions ; they thought 
every thing was not right, and that some conspiracy 
was going forward amongst us, in consequence of 
which my grand-father's life was in constant danger 
from the Indians, who daily came to him, and asked 
him many questions. Jjfi these conversations he 
gradually succeeded in making them understand, 
that there was one Lord Grod, that He was self-exist- 
ent, one, and in three persons ; how the same God 



10 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS 

had made the world from nothing, and created a 
man and placed him on earth and called him Adam, 
from whom all other men sprung; how the same Adam 
afterwards by his disobedience had sinned against 
his Creator, and by that sin had involved in it all his 
descendants ; how Grod sent then upon this earth His 
only Son Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin 
Mary, for the redemption and salvation of mankind ; 
how He died upon the cross, and was raised again the 
third day, and how after forty days He ascended to 
Heaven, whence He will return at a future day to 
judge the quick and dead." We read further that 
they had great pleasure in hearing these things, so 
that he gained their affection, and they visited and 
sent to him very frequently, and as Captain John 
Smith relates of the Virginia Indians, they were 
ready to exclaim, " that so far as the cannon and guns 
of the Christians exceeded the bow and arrows of the 
Indians in shooting, so far was their God superior 
to that of the Indians." I have given this account 
just as it was written because I believe that one of 
the reasons why this house of the Lord has been so 
blessed, is because these pious men sought to carry 
the blessings of the Gospel to those sitting in the 
region and the shadow of death, and, as you have 
just heard, sought to lead them to the truth by pro- 
claiming it in its simplicity and in its fullness. And 
permit me here to say, that if this nation would not 
learn the terrible lesson of what God thinks of con- 
tempt and injustice towards an inferior race, we must 
act fairly and honestly, and as Christians, in our 
relations with the Indians now in the land. It mat- 



OLD swedes' church. 11 

ters not how corrupt and depraved, how cruel and 
treacherous they may be, as good citizens we are to 
protect them in their rights, and as Christians we 
are to extend to them the blessings of the Gospel. 
Not satisfied, however, with simply conversing with 
them, this missionary acquired their language, so 
that Luther's Catechism was translated into the 
Indian tongue, and, as Dr. Clay justly remarks, " the 
Swedes may claim the honor of being the first mis- 
sionaries among the Indians in Pennsylvania, and 
that perhaps the very first work translated into 
their language was this Catechism by Campanius." 
Leaving this subject so full of suggestive topics, 
let me call attention to the concern the early Swedes 
ever manifested in the maintenance of Divine wor- 
ship, and the efforts put forth to obtain the services 
of ministers of the Gospel. In the very first colony 
they were accompanied by a clergyman, and alipost 
every vessel had its chaplain, but when the English 
became masters of the soil, the intercourse with the 
mother country gradually dropped off, and for a long 
time they were left to get along as they best could. 
Being an industrious and thrifty people, they could 
manage well enough in temporal affairs, but as they 
were entirely dependent upon Sweden for clergymen, 
for many years the Eev. Mr. Locke, (an honored 
name now both in Jersey and in this city,) was their 
only minister. Their first church was consecrated 
as early as 1646, on Tinicum Island, but as its dis- 
tance from Wicaco rendered it inconvenient, the 
block house, which stood about where this church 
now stands, was converted into a place of worship, 



12 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS 

and the first service held on Trinity Sunday, 1677. 
This block house was made of logs, and had loop 
holes in place of window lights, which might serve 
for fire arms in case of need. The congregation also 
was accustomed to bring fire-arms with them to pre- 
vent surprise, but ostensibly to use for any wild 
game that might be encountered in coming to and 
from church. Even after its consecration, it was 
sometimes used as a place of refuge. We are told 
that at one time some evil disposed Indians from 
Jersey, meditated an attack upon the settlement 
while the men were away. It so happened that the 
women were engaged in making soap, which they 
forthwith took, scalding hot, to the block house, and 
not knowing what their fate might be if captured, 
they also took fuel to keep it hot. With their conchs 
an alarm was sounded, and when the Indians began 
to undermine the building, the scalding soap was 
poured down, and thus they were kept at bay till 
the settlers began to approach when they hastily 
fled. 

It was near this block house that William Penn 
landed. At that time the site of the block house 
was a shaded knoll sloping gradually down to the 
river; north of it, where Christian Street is, was a 
little inlet in which a shallop might ride, and on the 
north side of the inlet was another pleasant knoll, 
on which was situated the primitive log cabin of the 
Swanson brothers, who were at that time owners of 
all that has since been been known as Southwark, 
Moyamensing and Passyunk. In this old block 
house the Rev. Mr. Fabritius j)reached for fourteen 






OLD swedes' church. 13 

years, though for nine years he was entirely blind, 
and when by the infirmity of age^ he was able to 
officiate no longer, the people were under serious 
apprehension lest they should be left without a min- 
ister. Twice appeals were sent to Sweden, but the 
letters never reached their place of destination ; then 
application was made to the Lutheran Consistory, 
of Amsterdam, since their ignorance of the English 
language rendered it useless to apply to England, 
but still no preacher came and the prospects were 
dark and gloomy indeed. Still loving their church 
and their God, when all the ministers were dead 
they appointed two worthy and pious men as lay 
readers, who offered up their well-known prayers 
and read prepared sermons from the desk. When 
they had almost despaired of obtaining a regularly or- 
dained clergyman, then their hearts were gladdened 
by the intelligence that news had reached Sweden 
of their destitute spiritual condition and that the 
matter had been laid before the King. Words can 
not express the joy of the colonists when this letter 
was received. As loj-al subjects, the letter was at 
once placed before the English Governor (William 
Markham) who expressed himself much gratified 
and advised an immediate answer. I wish I had 
time to read that letter to you, for I do not wonder 
that when it was received in Sweden it was copied 
by many persons, and drew tears from the eyes of 
many more, as they listened to the simple but touch- 
ing appeal ; for if ever these words of Amos were 
verified "Behold the days come, saith the Lord 
God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a 



14 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hear- 
ing the words of the Lord," they were fulfilled in 
the case before us. For we read, after enumerating 
their evidences of temporal prosperity, "we have 
great reason to thank the Almighty for His mani- 
fold mercies and bounties ; God grant that we may 
also have good shepherds to feed us with His holy 
word and sacraments." This letter was signed by 
thirty of the principal men of the colony and sent 
to Sweden. We learn that as soon as the letter 
arrived at Stockholm, " his Majesty, Charles the 
Eleventh, of glorious memory, in order to promote 
the preservation of our holy religion among the 
small number of settlers in America," wrote to the 
Archbishop of Upsal, and the Rev. Mr. Rudman, 
the Eev. Mr, Biork, and the Rev. Mr. Auren were 
selected for the work. To form some idea of the 
light in which such an undertaking was viewed in 
those days, let me here state, that after the King 
had appropriated $3,000 for the expenses of the 
missionaries, and had given orders to have a good 
ship ready for their passage; the clergymen came 
into his j^resence, and looking upon them, much as 
we would look upon missionaries going to Africa, 
he said, " Go now in the name of the Lord, to 
the place whither I send you, God be with you and 
prosper your undertaking." 

With the departure of these clergymen and their 
arrival here we now come to another definite period 
in the history of the colony, and from that time to 
the present the documents and papers are many and 
interesting. We will not follow their journey, let it 



OLD swedes' church. 15 

suffice to say, that after the usual perils of the sea 
they reached the settlement and were received with 
tears of joy. In an extract from a letter written by 
the Rev. Mr. Biork, dated October 29th, 1697, we 
read " before we had been there a day and a night, 
the people flocked in great numbers to see us. They 
welcomed us with great joy, and hardly believed we 
had arrived until they saw us. On the 27th of June 
we had only a simple meeting of prayer and thanks- 
giving at the lower congregation. On the 29th, we 
went up to Philadelphia, a clever little town, and 
waited on the Lieutenant-Grovernor, who, when he 
saw our credentials received us with great kindness.'^ 
For we must not forget, brethren, that where this 
church now stands was then considered quite a dis- 
tance from Philadelphia, and as late as 1743, the 
English Secretary complained to Thomas Penn, who 
was very fond of a ramble to our church, in these 
words, " Southwark is getting gradually disfigured 
by erecting irregular and mean houses, thereby so 
marring its beauty that when you return you will 
lose your pretty w^alk to Wicaco." And though it 
seems strange to us now to speak of this mighty 
city with its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, 
as ''a clever little town," yet at that time it was 
only a small place indeed, of about fourteen years 
old. The Eev. Mr. Rudman's letter home likewise 
confirms the statement of his colleague, ^'the minis- 
ter's garden and house," says he, ^*are at a distance 
of four English miles from Philadelphia, a clever 
town built by the Quakers." 
Immediately measures were put on foot to build 



16 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

a suitable place of worship, and on this point he says, 
" in order to build our church we are about to raise 
the sum of £400, but that will not be difficult, they 
are so very glad to have us among them. They 
look upon us as if we were angels from heaven. Of 
this they have assured me with many tears, and we 
may truly say that there is no place in the world, 
where a clergyman may be so happy as in ,this 
country." 

Stimulated by the presence of a minister speaking 
their own language, and regularly commissioned 
by the ecclesiastical authorities in Sweden, the 
lower congregation at Christina, went immediately 
to work, and on Trinity Sunday, 1699, the dedication 
sermon of the Old Swedes' Church of Wilmington 
(as it is now called) was preached from the words, 
" The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof 
we are glad." For a long time, however, that church 
was abandoned, though now again, I am happy to 
say, the praises of God are there sung, and His truth 
proclaimed; but from the time this church was 
opened, its courts have ever been trod by the ser- 
vants of the Lord, and the worship of the sanctuary 
maintained. The reason why this church was not 
completed as soon as the one at Christina was owing 
to the fact that they could not agree as to where it 
should be erected. They were just as anxious to 
have a church as their brethren at Christina, but 
those living on the Schuylkill, where the clergyman 
resided, wished the church there, while those on the 
Delaware, where the old block church stood, wished 
it here. Mr. Eudman himself preferred Passyunk as 



I 



OLD swedes' church. 17 

being nearer his residence, but he was more anxious 
for harmony and peace. One conference after an- 
other was held without avail, till at last in a general 
meeting of the congregation, it was decided to have 
the matter settled by lot. The blessing of God was 
invoked by prayer and singing, and when the de- 
cision was made in favor of Wicaco, dissension ceased 
and'all joined in a cheerful hymn of praise. Some 
little trouble afterwards arose about some trifling 
matters, and the work was longer delayed; but all 
the arrangements being at last completed, the same 
bricklayers and carpenters who had built the church 
at Christina were employed here, and as we said 
before, on the First Sunday after Trinity, in the year 
1700, the church was dedicated, and the sermon 
preached from the words of the text we have select- 
ed to-day. It was then looked upon as a master- 
piece of workmanship, and Watson does not hesitate 
to say that this little church of ours was then deemed 
"a great edifice, and so generally spoken of, for 
certainly nothing was then equal to it as a public 
building in the city." Tempora mutantur since then, 
but still we say, long may it stand as one of the an- 
cient land-marks of Philadelphia, and though now 
the sailor can hardly see our unpretending spire as 
he comes home from his long voyage, yet still many 
a heart is yet gladdened as from the vessel's deck 
the steeple of ^' Old Swedes' " is seen. 

Both minister and people were much pleased with 

the work, and in a letter sent home we read, " thus 

through God's blessing we have completed the great 

work and built two fine churches, superior to any 

3 



18 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

built in this country, so that the English themselves, 
who now govern the province, and are beyond meas- 
ure richer than we, wonder at what we have done. 
It is but lately that two governors, with their suites, 
have come to this place and visited our churches ; the 
one, Francis Nicholson, Governor of Maryland and 
our great patron; the other is named Blackstone, and 
is Grovernor of Virginia." Some few years after the 
church had been erected it was found that the church 
walls had given way ; some were in favor of strength- 
ening them by means of iron work, but after consul- 
tation it was thought best to erect porches on each 
side of the church, one of which would answer as a 
vestry room, and the other for a vestibule or entrance 
to the church. This was immediately carried into 
effect, and the exterior of the church presents exact- 
ly the same appearance to-day as it did more than a 
quarter of a century before even Washington was 
born, and three-quarters of a century before the war 
of the Revolution took place. 

With regard to the property of the church, it may 
not be amiss to add a word, as I know much misap- 
prehension exists in the minds of many. Had proper 
care been exercised, had the congregation not been 
left so often without a rector, and had the financial 
affairs of the parish been attended to, this church 
would now be the second if not the richest religious 
corporation in the land. 

For example, the congregation bought, for ninety 
pounds, twenty-five acres of land in the immediate 
vicinity of this church, to be, as the words run " a 
parsonage for the pastor and his heirs forever," and 



OLD swedes' church. 19 

yet through the grossest carelessness, lot after lot 
slipped out of the church's possession till now hardly 
anything remains. In the words of a writer upon 
this subject, "papers and documents disappeared 
through negligence, which if the}'- could now be found 
would prove the Swedes' Church the lawful owner 
of ground on which in later days have been erected 
handsome mansions, and which would make the 
present poor congregation of Philadelphia one of the 
richest religious bodies in America. Nearly all they 
have remaining of the above-mentioned twenty- 
five acres, consists of a few city lots, the ground 
rent on which amounts to twenty-five or fifty cents 
apiece, while the ground is worth as many hundreds 
and even thousand dollars." In addition to this, 
the church owned ninety-six acres on the Schuylkill, 
which has nearly all been lost through possession of 
more than twenty-one years, and as an illustration 
of the way in which the property fell away. Dr. 
Clay states, " that a property which now yields quite 
a little income to the church was a few years since 
not known to belong to it, and was quite accidentally 
recovered out of the hands of a person, who about 
forty or fifty years ago, had rented it as a grass lot, 
and afterwards brought himself to believe that he 
was the owner of it." But we do not say these 
things to complain. When we see how often wealth 
is a curse instead of a blessing, not simply to individ- 
uals, but to societies and churches it is, perhaps, 
better as it is, and though we cannot take our rank 
among the wealthy congregations of the city, yet 
thanks be to God we are able, with His blessing, not 



20 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

only to stand well before the community, but like- 
wise to do our part in extending to others the bless' 
ings we enjoy. 

But to return — we find that the worship was con- 
ducted in the manner required by the Swedish Lit- 
urgy, and though a regular sermon was ever preached 
in the forenoon, yet the clergyman was accustomed 
in the afternoon to conduct the service in a way 
which would make the congregations of those days, 
even far less than they now generally are, for in 
place of preaching, he walked up and down the aisles, 
to examine, not the children, but the adults, on their 
knowledge of the catechism, and to see how much 
they remembered of the sermon preached in the 
morning. 

Clergyman after clergyman followed in due order, 
and though at one time there was a vacancy of four 
years, and many attached themselves to the English 
churches, yet when a clergyman did come, a change 
for the better was immediately perceived. But as 
there were no tides of immigration flowing from 
Sweden, as from England, in the natural course of 
events, the English language gradually supplanted 
the Swedish, and after Dr. Collin had been sent over 
in 1770, there were at his death so few understand- 
ing the language, that the necessity no longer 
existed, and as Dr. Morton has well said on the tab- 
let on my right " he was the last of a long line of 
Missionaries sent over by the Mother Church in 
Sweden to break the Bread of Life to her children 
on this far distant shore.^' For over half a century 
he took charge of the Swedish churches, and as ho 



OLD SWEDES^ CHURCH. 21 

died only in 1831, I know there are many here who 
can well remember him. 

The parsonage then seems to have been a sort of 
Gretna Green^ for in the forty-five years he minister- 
ed here^ he married no less than three thousand three 
hundred and seventy-five couples. In 1795 he 
married one hundred and ninety-nine, and in the fol- 
lowing year, one hundred and seventy-nine. Judg- 
ing from some of the anecdotes told of Dr. Collin, 
he must have been a singular old man, but from the 
fact that he is remembered only by the pecuUarities 
that marked the later years of his life, we are not to 
forget that he labored long and faithfully for many 
years, and both during and after the Eevolutionary 
war his suiferings and privations were as great as 
any who preceded him, and certainly far greater 
than any of his successors. I have been much moved 
in reading his simple and affecting story as given in 
his own words. " My suflPerings/' he says, " have 
been very severe. During the war the rents of the 
church lands were insignificant, by the incredible 
depreciation of the Continental money, which finally 
passed one hundred and fifty to one specie dollar, 
and sunk in the hands of the unfortunate holders. 
From this cause, and from the failure of supplies 
from home, I was at times in want of necessaries, 
while my constitution was so much injured by the 
fever and ague, that a change of place or the grave 
seemed to be the onlj^ alternative." 

During Dr. CoUin's ministry he was for many 
years dependent in a great measure upon his assis- 
tants, \vho were appointed from time to time, and 



22 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

among them was the Eev. Jehu Curtis Clay, who 
soon after his ordination was called to that position 
for one year, and at the death of the Doctor was 
elected rector of the Swedish churches on the 5th of 
December, 1881. At that time the churches of 
Upper Merion, Kingsessing and Wicaco, were all 
united; but in 1843 by almost unanimous consent, 
they were formed into distinct parishes, each hav- 
ing its own separate rector. 

But some one may ask at this stage, How is it 
that these Swedish churches (with the exception of 
the one at Upper Merion, which though not formally 
in connection, yet has ever had Episcopal clergymen 
as rectors,) why is it that they all are in connection 
with the Protestant Epsicopal Church and not with 
the Lutheran ? In the words of Dr. Clay who has 
treated this subject very fully, I can only say " that 
while there is no dissimilarity between the Swedish 
Lutheran and German Lutheran churches in faith or 
doctrine, there is much in regard to order or govern- 
ment. The Swedish church, though Lutheran in 
doctrine, is Episcopal in government. The Swedish 
reformers adopted the Augsburg Confession of Faith, 
but retained Episcopacy, and hence it was that Dr. 
Collin used the Episcopal prayer book in his minis- 
try here, and the assistant ministers were always of 
the same church, and that before these churches 
were admitted into Convention, the Protestant Epis- 
copal Bishop of Pennsylvania regularly visited and 
confirmed in them. 

In Dr. Clay's appointment, we come to the last 
period in the history of the church. Did I not fear 



OLD SWEDES* CHURCH. 23 

to weary you, how I would love to dwell on the thirty- 
two years of his ministry here, but what more could 
I say than is known to most of you. He needs no 
words of praise, for as the tablet on my left says, 
'' he was a good man, and full of the Holy Grhost and 
of faith.'' Under his wise and faithful labors the 
church greatly increased, so that at one time there 
were serious thoughts of building a new church, but 
wiser councils prevailed, and though the interior of 
the church was much altered, yet it was determined 
to preserve the exterior, as it had been from the 
beginning. Before the pews were altered and the 
galleries put in, there was in the east end of the 
church, an old-fashioned octagon shaped pulpit, with 
a small window behind, a large window originally 
there having been boarded up outside and bricked 
and plastered inside, and a small one placed in the 
centre. Over the pulpit was a sounding board, and 
in the chancel a small reading desk. There was an 
aisle, leading from the west door up the middle of 
the church, and another across it from the south 
door to the north side of the church. The pews 
were high and uncomfortable, but when in 1846 the 
alterations were made the church assumed the ap- 
pearance it now presents. 

The Eev. Mr. Leadenham, who had been Dr. Clay's 
assistant in the last year of his life, succeeded him 
in the rectorship of the church. He was followed 
by the Eev. Mr. Reed, who labored here successfully 
for three years, and the beautiful Sunday School 
Chapel which stands in the church yard will ever re- 
main as a monument of his energy and perseveranec. 



24 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

For a quarter of a century nothing was done to 
improve the appearance of the church, and the rav- 
ages of time began to be apparent to us alb Last 
summer we determined to upholster, carpet, paint 
and beautify this house of God, without altering its 
general appearance, and the result of our efforts is 
evident to you all, in its present neatness and 
beauty. 

There are many other points upon which I would 
like to speak. I should like to give some account 
of the old font before me, and the quaint cherubs 
which for scores ofyearshaveoccupied their present 
position, for from time immemorial there has been a 
gallery at the west end of the church. I should like 
to speak about the bell which was originally cast 
in 1643, and on which is the simple inscription 

"I to the church the living call, 
And to the grave do summon all." 

I should like to speak about our old grave yard, 
where for over two hundred years the last solemn 
rites of the dead have been performed, and where, 
with birds warbling, and sweet flowers growing, 

,, Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep, 
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife : 
Their sober wishes never learned to stray ; 
Along the cool sequestered vale of life 
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way ; 
Yet even these bones from insult to protect, 
Some frail memorial still erected nigh, 
"With uncouth rhymes, and shapeless sculpture decked, 
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh." 



OLD swedes' church. 25 

But as I now close, I feel anything but satisfied 
with the effort. There is so much to be said that I 
am glad to know the subject will be continued in 
the afternoon sermon. 

And to the members of this church let me simply 
say, that in looking over the records of the past, I 
do not find that at all times there was perfect peace 
and harmony. Members became dissatisfied, con- 
gregations were at times divided, bitter words were 
spoken, vestries and rectors could not agree, and 
dark clouds overhung the parish. And though now 
in the good providence of God everything is so har- 
monious, though we are as a city that is at unity with 
itself, yet remember this house will be blessed of the 
Lord only as we improve our opportunities. O, then, 
'' pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall pros- 
per that love thee; say, peace be within thy walls 
and plenteousness within thy palaces ; for my breth- 
ren and companion's sake, I will wish thee pros- 
perity." 

It is no ordinary privilege that we enjoy to wor- 
ship in such a place as this, hallow^ed by such sacred 
associations, for of this old church may it be truly 
said 

" They all are passing from the land, 
Those churches old and gray, 
In which our fathers used to stand 

In years gone by, to pray — 
There meekly knelt those stern old men, 
Who worshipped at our altars then. 

"Jt was a church low built and square, 

With belfry perched on high, 
• 4 



26 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS. 

And no unseemly carvings there 

To shock the pious eye. 
That belfry was a modest thing, 
In which a bell was wont to swing. 

"It stood like many a country church, 

Upon a spacious green ; 
Whence stile and by-path go in search 

Of cot the hills between. 
The rudest boor that turf would spare, 
And turn aside his team with care. 

"Hard thinkers were they, those old men, 

And patient too, I ween ; 
Long words and knotty questions then 

But made our fathers keen, 
I doubt me if their sons would hear 
Such lengthy sermons year by year. 

'' But all are passing fast away — 

Those abstruse thinkers too — 
Old churches with their walls of gray 

Must yield to something new ; 
Be-Gothic'd things, all neat and white, 
Greet everywhere the traveller's sight." 

Again, then, with all earnestness and sincerity 
would I oifer up the prayer of God's servant of old, and 
say, " Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the 
house of Thy servant, that it may continue forever 
before Thee, for Thou Lord God hath spoken it, 
and with Thy blessing let the house of Thy servant 
be blessed forever," and may all the people say 
"Amen.'' 



AFTERNOON SERMON, 

JUNE 19, 1870, 

By EEY. JESSE Y. BUKK, 

Rector of Trinity Church, South wark. 



'^ Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after 
many days. " Ecclesiastes xi, i. 

It is with mingled emotions of diffidence and 
gladness that I attempt the duty which your Eector 
has entrusted to me. Eevering as I do, all that is 
connected with the earlier fortunes of our American 
Church, it would be a glad thing for me to partici- 
pate in any way in these memorial services; and I 
have rarel3'' felt so honored, as by my appointment 
to preach one of your anniversary sermons. 

It was intended that I should select some appro- 
priate theme outside of those embraced in the strictly 
anniversary sermon of this morning, and yet invol- 
ved in those records of the past, to which our minds^ 
are turned to-day. But herein arose a difficulty — 
not from paucity, but from a superabundance of ma- 
terial. I should have found it far easier to undertake 
a course of lectures on the history of which this 
Church is a resultant and a memento, than to select or 
condense, with any satisfaction, for a single sermon. 
The most I can do then, is to gather here and there 
from the story of the past, some of those events 



28 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

which God was guiding for great results ahead, and 
to point out as I may their connection with the pres- 
ent. I take as a subject, finding its fitting illustra- 
tions in the present state of this venerable parish, 
Grod's providence in the re-union of severed branches 
of His Church, apart from man's intention, and I 
offer no other exposition of the text announced than 
that which is given in this correlative history of the 
English and the Swedish Churches. I ask you then, 
to listen to a purely historical discourse, trusting 
that the lesson which it involves may be one of en- 
couragement to us in faithful work, and fitting to 
the gladness of the present occasion. 

The great Northern Peninsula of Europe was one 
of the last last parts of that continent to receive, and 
perhaps the slowest to embrace the Gospel. It was in- 
habited by a hardy and rugged race, almost as isolat- 
ed as the Eskimo of our day, but far superior to them 
in bodily and intellectual vigor. Under a cold 
northern sky that had none of the glowing beauty of 
the milder climates, and whose on\y glory was in the 
aurora's mystic glare, they worshiped gods of fierce 
and gloomy aspect; sung them in a language harsh, 
terse and vigorous, and in their rude barbarism 
nursed an influence which has become a healthful ele- 
ment in the languages and races of these later days. 
About the year 800 tidings of these heathens came to 
the court of the Franks, then a Christian people. It 
stirred the heart of Ansgar with missionary zeal, and 
forthwith he took a dangerous and lonely journey to 
these regions of the north. He preached the Gospel of 
Jesus to the followers of Odin, and with such success 



OLD swedes' church. 29 

that several communities of Christians were founded 
in the south of Sweden, and there was every prospect 
of the church prevailing there as it had done in other 
lands. But in a few brief years the young church 
passed away, either through relapses of the imper- 
fectly converted, or the violence of the heathen foes ; 
too far isolated from the main body of church to 
to resist the influences of the darkness around it. 
For many years after this failure no eifort was made 
to dispute the empire of heathenism over that vast 
region, later known as that of the Norwegians, 
Swedes and Finns ; and th^next attempt was linked 
with the romantic history of an exiled and outLaw 
Prince. Olaf Trygvesson had been rescued by his 
mother from the slaughter of his royal father's house- 
hold, and carried from place to place to escape the 
usurper's power. The child grew to manhood, an 
exile in Denmark ; and as he grew developed royal 
qualities of mind and body and excelled in all the 
bold and warlike accomplishments of the time. 
Once a royal page, he became a sea-king — the polite 
name for the then noble occupation of a pirate — and 
in his own vessel made many a profitable ravage on 
the shores of the North Sea. Several times he 
visited the British Isles and even in those early days 
found the plunder of the church his most renumera- 
tive spoil. But on one of the expeditions he was 
thrown in contact with a bishop of the English 
Church and so won over to the teachings of the holy 
man, that he embraced Christianity, and his after 
life, though stormy and violent, give us rude assu- 
rance of his stedfast adherence to his new found faith. 



so ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

In the year 1000, just after his haptisra, he made an 
expedition into Norway to recover his father's throne, 
and resolved at the same time to introduce the 
Christian faith along with his own rule, and to this 
end he carried with him Sigfrid, the Bishop who bap- 
tized him, and other ecclesiastics. In both designs he 
succeeded, reducing province after province to his 
sway and destroying paganism in each as he obtain- 
ed a foothold. His method of preaching the gospel 
was brief and effective, but rather unevangelical. 
A modern poet well describes it in these imitative 
verses ^ 

" King Olaf answered, I command 

This land to be a Christian land ; 

Here is my Bishop who the folk baptizes." 

" King Olaf from the doorway spoke, 
Choose ye between two things, my folk, 

To be baptized or given up to slaughter. 
And seeing their leader stark and dead, 
The people with a murmur said, 

O King ! baptize us with thy holy water. 
So all the Drontheim land became 
A Christian land in name and fame ; 

In the old gods no more believing and trusting." 

I have told this story of 800 years ago, because it 
tells of England's Church having cast her bread upon 
the waters so long ago, and becoming the mother 
of the Swedish Church. Popery had not yet gained 
dominion over the British Church; it was yet in its 
apostolic simplicity and integrity, and whatever 
errors accompanied the executi^, this mission was 
the last sent out from British shores, fairly repre- 



Again 



OLD swedes' church. 31 

senting her character before she was overwhelmed 
by Papal corruptions. Sigfrid, the Bishop, it is said, 
had been Archbishop of York. At all events he was 
a Bishop of the British line, and the Northern 
church which grew out of the labors of a long and 
blameless life, is therefore distinctly an oifshoot of 
that venerable church whom we rejoice to recognize 
as our mother. 

One more episode of the farther past, and then I 
will come nearer home. In a few brief years after 
Sigfrid's death, the shadow of the great Eoman 
eclipse came stealing over the church in Sweden, 
Slowly and reluctently, as in England, the domina- 
tion and doctrine of Popery was yielded to, and for 
many, many years, an ever-deepening darkness was 
over all the land; " a darkness that might be felt." 

Five hundred years after Sigfrid's time the Refor- 
mation began. Two brothers named Peterson, came 
to Sweden, filled w^ith zeal for Luther's teachings, 
and their advent coinciding with important political 
revolutions, (as^ was the case with the same move- 
ment in England,) the errors of Popery were soon 
cast oif and the Swedish Church reformed. The 
Eeformation was Lutheran, because its impulse camo 
from Luther 3 but the identity and integrity of the 
church was not lost, as in other reformations from the 
same source, for, as in England, all the church re- 
formed, and its whole external organization was 
retained ; it was still an Episcopal Church, still in 
its apostolic form, and therefore not disintegrated 
by the purifyii% process, but rather invigorated for 
a permaijent and active life. 



82 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS 



Suffer me to give a brief account of those early- 
years of our own country, and particularly of these 
shores of the Delaware, which I propose to connect 
with the history of 500 and 1000 years ago. The 
bread was cast upon the waters when Bisbop Sigfrid 
saw the Hebrides fading in his vessel's wake, and 
with holy zeal gazed northward to where the red 
light shook in " rifted streamers " over the dominions 
of Thor and Odin ; when he gladly gave his life to 
plant the cross of Christ where the Molner of Thor 
had ruled. Let me tell you how it came back after 
800 years had gone. 

You all know something of the discovery and 
early settlement of this country. For some time 
after the colonization of other portions, the South 
Eiver was known only as a place in which it would 
probably be well to plant a colony. The Dutch were 
the first to attempt it. Within eight of this church, 
they built on Grloucester Point a fort, in 1.624, which 
was soon after deserted. At various times during 
ten years they established trading posts, always, I 
believe, on the east or New Jersey side of the river, 
but never succeeded in making any permanent 
settlement. 

About this time the Swedish government acquired 
the then common desire for American possessions, 
and in 1638 two ships, the "Key of Calmar" and 
the "Bird Grip," set sail from Gottenberg with a 
respectable colony of Swedish emigrants on board, 
prepared for a permanent and orderly living, and 
bringing with them as rector, thff Eev. Eeorus 
Torkillus. They sailed up the Delaware, making 



OLD swedes' church. 33 

their first settlemeDt near where Wilmington now 
stands, and as they had acquired a title from the 
Indians of all the country on this side the river from 
Cape Henlopen to where Trenton now is, formed 
other settlements along the water side further up, 
including one on this spot, called Wicaco. Here they 
remained flourishing and peaceably until 1655, when 
the Dutch, who then held New York, disputed their 
right, and after some struggles, established domin- 
ion over them; not, however, breaking up their 
settlements nor interferring with their religious 
organization. In 1664 the English wrested their 
American provinces from the Dutch, the King grant- 
ing them to his brother the Duke of York, who soon 
sent a force to take control of the Delaware settle- 
ments. In a few years the Dutch again obtained 
possession for a brief time, but the English regaining 
the country, this province was granted by charter 
to William Penn, and the history of Pennsylvania 
began. 

During, all these fluctuations the Swedes had 
maintained their character as a steady, hard-working 
and thrifty people, holding fast their possessions, 
and endeavoring to live in all things as they would 
have done in Sweden. They had all along been 
served by ministers sent out to them from Sweden, 
except one who was Dutch ; and William Penn des- 
cribes them in terms of hearty commendation as an 
orderly and religious people. 

But a new order of things was now on hand. 
Colonization on a far more vigorous scale than ever 
before was to take place, and almost any other 
5 



34 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

people than the Swedes would have been absorbed 
or expelled by so large an influx of so diff'erent a 
people. Penn's idea was to establish here a Quaker 
comraonwealth. "With a Quaker Englishman an Epis- 
copal Swede could have scarcely more than one 
common interest, and that was of £. s. d. or rather of 
gilders and stivers. But by the year 1700, in which 
this church was built, another English element began 
to appear with which we have more to do in the 
study of our subject. 

You have heard this morning, the story of this 
church's personal history, which I need not relate 
again, but will endeavor to set before you the paral- 
lel history of the time, especially as relating to our 
own church. 

In 1697 the Kev. Messrs. Eudman, Biork and 
Auren, were sent hither by the King of Sweden, and 
the Swedish Church received a new impulse of 
life from its renewed intercourse with home, its 
ministers and the royal gifts of books and kindly 
words. The Eev. Mr. Eudman became rector of this 
church ; the old block house was torn down and this 
venerable building completed in 1700. The Swedes 
were encouraged by the promise of a constant supply 
of ministers, and the missionaries themselves by 
good prospects of promotion at home after a few 
years of colonial life. 

The English Church was established in the other 
colonies while yet scarcely existent in Pennsylvania. 
And I cannot begin to tell of the beginning of our 
church here without a grateful mention of one whose 
name is almost unknown to our people, but whose 



OLD swedes' church. 35 

memory deserves enduring monuments in all our 
Eastern Dioceses. I refer to the Eev. Dr. Thomas 
Bray, commissary to Maryland. He was an English 
clergyman of rare abilities and rarer zeal and devo- 
tion, who turned his attention to the extension of 
the church in the English colonies ; and began to 
work by procuring valuable and instructive libraries 
for missionary stations, and afterwards for parishes 
at home. He procured no less than thirty-nine of 
these for the churches in North America. Growing 
more earnest in the work, he planned and organized 
that noble agency, the Society for the Promotion of 
Christian Knowledge, in 1698 ; and, finding that the 
foreign missionary work was more than one society 
could manage with that at home, in 1701, at Lam-, 
beth Palace, there was formed out of the first society 
another called the Society for the Promotion of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts — a venerable society which 
yet exists, and yet pursues its noble and apostolic 
work. It is to the noble zeal of the Eev. Dr. JBray, 
and its perpetuation in this society for the promo- 
tion of the gospel, that our old American churches 
owe, under God, almost their existence and certain- 
ly their prosperity. And I am glad at this time to 
ofi^er this grateful tribute to names that are too little 
known among us. In 1699 Dr. Bray visited Mary- 
land under commission from the Bishop of London, 
and greatly strengthened the church there by his 
wise administration. While there his eyes were 
turned to Quaker Pennsylvania, and such is the con- 
tagious character of the missionary spirit, that a 
subscription was made by the Maryland clergy for 



36 ANNIVERSARY SERMONg, 

sending a missionary into the fastnesses of Quaker- 
ism. This project, however, was not carried out, 
but Bray on his return to England never lost sight 
of Pennsylvania, and stimulated the society to con- 
stant interest in it. 

The history of the church in Pennsylvania was 
this : Bishop Compton had wisely procured the 
insertion into the Charter granted to Penn, a stipu- 
lation that whenever twenty persons in any one 
place desired the ministration of the Church of 
England, they should be allowed to do so without 
molestation. A few were soon found so disposed, 
and in 1695 the first Christ Church was built at 
Second and Market Streets ; and the Eev.Mr. Clay- 
ton sent out as its minister, receiving a salary of 
£50 from the King, in addition to that raised from 
the parish. This was not the present, but a much 
smaller building; but Mr. Clayton was so successful 
in his ministrations that he gathered a congregation 
of 700 persons previous to his untimely death. In 
the year 1700, the Rev. Mr. Evans succeeded him at 
Christ Church. 

About this time some of the Welsh settlers at 
Radnor, Merion and Oxford, who were Episcopalians 
had formed congregations for divine service, although 
they had no minister. I do not know that they 
received any ministrations from the Rev. Mr. Clay- 
ton, first rector of Christ Church, but we now find 
the first dawning of the re-union of the English and 
Swedish Churches, in the services held for these in 
Oxford Church, by Mr. Rudman the rector of this 
church. Mr. Evans of Christ Church was a most 



OLD swedes' church. 37 

earnest and successful minister. In 1703 he had 
gathered a church at Chester; soon after at Marcus 
Hook and Concord, and church buildings were 
speedily erected there. Although he continued at 
Christ Church until 1718, there were several intervals 
in his ministration, and during one of these we again 
find signs of the union ; Mr. Eudman officiating for the 
congregation until they could obtain an English sup- 
ply, or, as it happened, until his death. About the 
same time we find acknowledgement that the Eev. 
Mr. Biork, Swedish rector at Christina (who preached 
the first sermon in this church,) officiated for the 
English church at Appoquinimy, (now Middletown.) 

In the year 1727 the present Christ Church was 
built. In that year on three Sundays its congrega- 
tion worshiped in this church. When the Eev. Mr. 
Hesselius was rector of this church, we find the 
Society for the Promotion of the Gospel, granting 
him a stipend of £10 a year, with a most grateful 
acknowledgement of his services in the vacant 
churches of the province. 

From this time on the English Church increased 
in the province, under the able ministrations of such 
men as Evans, Barton, Club, Jenny and Duche, and 
fostered always by the venerable society which the 
soul of Bray inspired, until the birth of the American 
Episcopal Church at the consecration of Bishop 
White. During this period the Swedish Churches 
did not grow, but they stubbornly held their own, 
only yielding to the innovation of language, which 
the gradual extinction of the Swedish required. 
The Swedish mission ended on the death of the Rev. 



38 ANNIVERSARY SERMONS, 

Nicholas Collin, 45 years rector of this church, in 
1831. During his rectorship he constantly used our 
Prayer Book, and the Bishop of Pennsylvania regu- 
larly visited and confirmed in these churches. When 
therefore, all connection with the Diocese of XJpsal 
having ended, and their missionary rector deceased, 
the independent Swedish Churches sought new 
rectors and a corporate union; they naturally elect- 
ed Presbyters of our Protestant Episcopal Church, 
and one by one came into union with our Convention. 
So came to her again the bread which our mother 
cast upon the northern sea these centuries ago. So 
the parted streams that murmured on in lonely and 
rugged ways so far apart, blend into one placid 
current as the rocks are passed and quiet meadows 
gained. So God gives to His church that unity 
which no human wit can plan, but which comes 
when each is dutiful and faithful, and unwavering 
in the right. 

Pardon me, brethren, if I have wearied you with 
a story over long, and made wearisome perhaps by 
needful condensation. What else could I do, with 
all this wealth, and more than this, of far-reaching 
and ever-blending history before me ? I gather from 
these far-distant and yet relating facts, one of the 
the many lessons which are taught us by this ven- 
erable pile, and one which may well serve to deepen 
our aifection and our reverence for it. It stands not 
only a monument of that piety Avhich sanctified the 
settlements all along our shores, not only a holy 
memorial of the ancestors of many who are here, 
not only the hallowed gateway through which 



^ OLD SWKDES' CHtlRCH. ^ 39 

..sands have passed to the temple that is'iwt 
r ^:'^ bands-besides all these, it is something 

distant lands, when the sagas of the heroes yielded 
Ll!:rf •^'^°'''^'^*- ^^^^"-ftheLbl^t 
church. It bids us heed how inscrutably, how slow- 
^ perhaps but how surely God builds [he fabric If 
f^r-Tr^r^"""'' ^''"-'>' -d '' ~ us how 
of G^d "'^ "'''' ^'^ "^"^'^'-^^ "" *'"« Pro-i^es 

Be glad then, friends who love the kingdom of 
our Lord, „ot only that these walls have a'hiX; 
ofl70 years, but for all the hallowed memories tha^ 
us er round them, and which are the heritage ^ J 
all the church. Make your thank offering to Him 
who h so crowned our fathers' faith with MessTng 
and then forth to the vocations of these later times' 
-ore ready to work and give and do, because oS 
testimony of the centuries that have Une 

tint°'^f ?J°''L^'''*'''''" °^'^' vestr/and'congrega 
tion of this church, I have a word to say, wWch I 

pray you not to take amiss. Under ordinar;rrcuV 

stances and in a modern church, the vestrT aTe" 

s.mply guardians of the needful buildings ndlnd 

of a parish, and need only consider the conveni nee 

of he present ; but I ask you to consider your e^ves 

as trustees of a property which belongs not mp,; 

to the heirs of the Swedish Church nor to .17 

:r;ti:"o ''- --^''^ -«,ui;;:; :,tx^ 

vests It in our commonwealth, our citv onr ^h 7 
Episcopal Church. Every P;nnsyi:rniaTs:oui: 



i 



40 y^ ANNIVERSARY SERMONS. 

jio^d it as a sacred relic of the early day^ 
/ths republic. Every Philadelphian should cheriS 
as a landmark in that history to which he fon« __ 
links his own. Every churchman must regard it as 
hallowed beyond the usual sacredness of churches 
by all that it has seen. By our dear old common- 
wealth, by the city of our birth, and above all by 
that church which is dearer to us still, I pray you 
guard this place for aU. Let no calls of expediency, 
no pretense of improvement, nor any lightening of 
burdens, tempt you ever to neglect, nor desecrate, 
nor change this, which is not so much yours as it 
is your states', your church's, and your God's. So 
faithfully keeping your trust I pray that you may 
keep many such a day as this within these walls, 
and that all whose worship here has witnessed to 
the unity of God's church below, may share in that 
perfect and blissful unity which the redeemed shall 
have in Heaven. 



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